A Big Start to the Summer for Photographer Stephanie Sinclair

A Paris exhibit, a Washington D.C. award and copyright-protection advice

On June 1, Hudson Valley, N.Y.-based photographer Stephanie Sinclair christened a wonderfully named new exhibition space in Paris, L’Arche du Photojournalisme, with the debut of her ongoing life’s work “Too Young to Wed.” For the past 15 years, Sinclair has been documenting parts of the world where child marriage is sanctioned. This latest exhibition runs through Sept. 24.

On June 8, Sinclair was at the German Embassy in Washington to accept the 2017 Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award, presented for a third time by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF). The prize includes a $20,000 cash dispensation.

Per an AP report by Tamara Lush, Sinclair later this summer will host a workshop for child-marriage survivors. And at the beginning of June, she also kicked off on her personal website what will be a series of blog posts about the most important element of all these days for a photographer. Protecting against the unlicensed and inappropriate digital use of images. From “A Crash Course in Copyright 101:”

I’ve had several of my images from the Too Young to Wed series end up on right-wing blogs looking to bash Islam and promote their ideologies. Being able to fight back through copyright enforcement has helped me better protect the integrity of my life’s work. More importantly, when I put these stories out there, I owe it to my subjects to present their images fairly, accurately and in context–and hold those responsible who seek to exploit their image for their own political gain.

We look forward to reading the subsequen posts. That’s Sinclar below, third from right, with this year’s honorable-mention Courage in Photojournalism colleagues Nicole Tung and Louisa Gouliamaki. Congrats to them as well.